Carl Rogers' approach to communication has implications for the rhetorician and the teacher of college composition. The qualities of respect, restraint, neutrality, and understanding, when applied to written and oral discourse, can provide an effective alternative to polemical argumentation. The detatchment and empathy of the Rogerian style is particularly suited to the needs of students who have mastered the rudiments of composition skills but who need to examine their thinking, attitudes, and assumptions more closely. Similarly, Rogers' model encourages open-mindedness, a nonjudgmental focus, and eliminates the tendency toward bias to which students are prone. (KS)